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There's an app for that

Published on
04 February
by
Francesco Violante
,
CEO, SITA

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By 2020, there will be 26 billion devices connected to the internet. Everything and anything that can benefit will have a connection. Businesses are already connecting assets and equipment and getting more data to optimize performance. Even our bodies will be connected through the things we wear.

This has led us away from the traditional web browsers toward mobile apps. We have apps for everything from the appliances in our homes to monitoring and controlling our health.

The App for Everything world is just around the corner, and it will complement the Internet of Things. Downloads from Apple’s App Store are estimated at over 50 billion; around 800 apps are downloaded every second.

What does this mean for the air transport industry? It means we need to be in the forefront of this revolution. Passengers want to use their device of choice and expect the same connectivity in the air as on the ground. This gives us more options to connect them into the industry’s IT ecosystem.

Wearable technology is poised to have a big impact. As is biometrics. There’s also proximity sensing, using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and beacons, which we’re just now in the infancy stage of learning what they can do.

As these and other technologies converge, the possibilities to impact industry operations expand exponentially. For example, by 2022, commercial airline fleets will include 10,000 new generation aircraft. These will be flying data centers. They’ll depend on IT and data exchange to operate optimally – and they’ll stay connected in-flight and on the ground. This presents a new challenge for the entire airline and its operating partners.

Learn more about our networked world in my article in the latest Air Transport IT Review.